Chapter 2128: Exotic Customs, Human Nature

For a moment, Xia Duo actually regretted agreeing to the invitation from the Grand Emperor of Calimshan; he had originally thought it might just be a relaxed and pleasant sightseeing trip, perhaps with some business discussed on the side, but overall it would be very easy.

But now it seemed it was not that simple. Calimshan was unstable, and not long ago, an incident involving the assassination of an Elf Prince had occurred. Xia Duo suddenly had a premonition—

Once he arrived in Kalim, he would likely still be inevitably dragged into this matter!

As the Floating City delved deeper, although he maintained communication with Fadila, Xia Duo also saw more and more of the landscape below through 【Wide-Area Detection】 or other passive information-gathering spells.

From high altitude, one could see the vast desert extending from west to east and from north to south, all the way to the sea; only along the two rivers that traversed the desert to flow west into the sea, and one that flowed south into the sea, were there more distributed oases.

The rest of the territory was only sparsely dotted with some small and medium-sized oases, which showed that while Calimshan had vast territory, its actual population was very limited.

Of course, compared to Netheril, it was still much more.

And Kalim, where Xia Duo was heading on this trip, was at the southernmost end of the Kalin River that traversed the desert to flow south into the sea. Looking along the way, Xia Duo saw the exquisite and skillful combat postures of Calimshani Scholars, and also saw the scene of the Commoner class struggling to survive.

Oases belonged to every Pasha; if Commoners wanted to live in an oasis, they had to work for the Pasha. They were called "Commoners," but in reality, they might live even worse than some Slaves in Netheril.

The biggest problem in this was the Water Source. In the desert, controlling the Water Source meant controlling everyone's lifeline. Even a highly accomplished Spellcaster, if they did not know how to summon water, would still be thirsty when it was time to be thirsty!

And although almost all citizens of Calimshan could cast spells, the vast majority only knew some simple Bloodline Magic, and they also had to happen to awaken a Water Element Bloodline in a country where the Wind Element Bloodline was mainstream.

Even if one really awakened a Water Element Bloodline, it did not mean they could summon water, and even if they summoned it, it might not be enough for themselves to drink, let alone satisfy those around them.

If Xia Duo were a local Pasha and his heart were slightly more vicious, as soon as he heard of someone who had awakened a Water Element Bloodline, he would immediately capture and kill them; even if he could not capture them, he would try his best to win them over and keep them under his control.

At worst, he could report it to those above and ask the "Great" Syl Pasha to maintain the stability of this class order.

Following this line of thought, I am afraid there really might be someone in Calimshan deliberately targeting spells related to Water Sources within the Bloodline Magic system.

If this were true, Xia Duo dared to conclude—the ruling class of Calimshan was born because of the Water Source, and they would surely perish because of the Water Source!

……

The Floating City was not moving slowly. Not long after, Xia Duo received a Sending from Niya; she had already seen the magnificent city of Kalim on the distant coast.

The buildings in the city were tall and grand, with towers standing in great numbers. Almost all buildings had pointed arched tops that shimmered with colorful light under the sun, full of exotic charm.

In addition, perhaps to facilitate heat dissipation, the main surfaces of most buildings in Calimshan were coated with a type of fine white sand, which would emit a hazy white light under the sun.

Niya liked this architectural style very much, and the voice in her Sending was also full of joy and cheerfulness, until she saw the scene in a small village near a small oasis not far north of Kalim!

Listening to Niya's indignant and even slightly uneasy tone, Xia Duo hurriedly adjusted the target of his 【Wide-Area Detection】 and soon discovered the small village Niya mentioned.

It was a super-micro settlement where only a dozen households lived. In the very center was a low building built of stones, inside which was a structure similar to a cellar, and at the very bottom was a damp water trough paved with gravel.

Outside the stone building, a circle of wooden houses was built in an almost uniform manner. Outside the wooden houses grew two rows of unknown withered trees, blocking the wind and sand from the north and west.

Of course, from the sparse, tiny yellow leaves, one could see that those withered trees were not actually dead; they were just drought-resistant plants that were common in the desert and almost non-existent in the Northland.

If there were no accidents and no rulers above, this small village should have been a paradise where one could live in peace, albeit in poverty.

When hungry, there were fruits on the withered trees, and some wooden houses even kept some lizard-like animals; when thirsty, there was a Water Source in the cellar of the central stone house.

But reality was reality after all. Although Xia Duo observed a step later than Niya, from the tools scattered outside the wooden houses and the long string of horseshoe prints extending west into the desert, one could see that this place had just experienced a man-made disaster.

Of course, from the perspective of 【Wide-Area Detection】, Xia Duo could clearly see four masked men on horseback in the west, wantonly singing a song with a wild melody.

Looking at the village side, fortunately, no bloodshed had occurred; it was just that the Water Source stored in the village had been robbed by that group of horse bandits and sand thieves from the west.

At the moment, winter had already arrived, and the Northland had entered a frozen state, but in Calimshan in the south, even in winter, the days were still hot, and it was almost impossible to survive without a continuous supply of water.

Thus, Xia Duo, who had arrived at the perfect time, saw the extreme evil side of human nature—

A girl, whose thin frame could be seen even when wrapped in a loose smock, was surrounded by four or five men who were equally thin but had exceptionally fierce eyes.

Although Xia Duo could not understand Calimshani, from their gestures and the expressions on their faces, he could see that those four or five villagers were forcing the little girl to pour water into the stone trough.

As for how to pour it, it was obviously a bit of instinctive spellcasting from the Water Element Bloodline.

Niya must have seen the sand thieves robbing them and the villagers turning against each other afterward. When Xia Duo asked, it was indeed so, and she also mentioned that the girl had just produced some fresh water, but those villagers were still not satisfied and wanted to squeeze out more, but the Bloodline Power was limited and needed to recover, so the pathetic scene of coercion that Xia Duo saw occurred.

Through the investigation outside the village, Xia Duo estimated that it would take at least a day for those villagers to walk from the village to the nearest oasis; if they wanted to bring water back, I am afraid it would be drunk by the person transporting it before they could walk back to the village.

Or the person transporting it would collapse from exhaustion.

Now there were only two paths before this village—

One was to collectively abandon the village and head to the oasis to become obedient Slave Commoners of the Pasha; the other was to force the girl with the Water Element Bloodline to produce fresh water for everyone to tide them over temporarily, so that the water in the cellar trough could recover.